Cordelia
Grace watched Bernard Howard, the love of her young life, go off to
fight for our country in WWII. And she has spent the last three years
creating the Pine Cone quilt that will grace their marriage bed when he
comes home. Each row of triangles signifies a layer in her life, sets of
memories, hopes, dreams, and prayers for her future, enough spoken
words to cover them forever. Her image of their “happy-ever-after” grows
proportionally as the quilt expands.
But is the man that returns from the war, the same man
that she remembered? Are the dark shades of color that she had to use
for the outside edges of the beloved quilt prophetic of her life to
come? Can love and faith overcome all?
***
This week has been kind of ridiculous and that's about the length of time I've had this book. So I've only had time to read the first chapter. From what I've read I can tell you that there's enough of the mannerisms and colloquial style speech of the characters to really place you in the scene, but not too much as to be distracting or overwhelming with slang you can't understand.
This is a story with black main characters. I don't think we have enough of those and I'm definitely interested to read about how they were treated as soldiers during the war versus when they came home to America where there was still so much racism.
Update: Okay, so the book blurb for this book is really misleading. Bernard does not go off to war until fully halfway through the book and the first half, while taking place during WWII, does not really have much to do with it. And when he comes home it's only the last three chapters of the book!
If I were to write the book blurb it would talk more about how Cordelia grows up torn between her grandmother's traditions, as represented by the Pine Cone quilt, and the modern lifestyle her mother chooses. Will she choose the life of prayer and peace she sees in her grandmother, but doesn't quite believe in, or will she choose the modern independent lifestyle as espoused by her mother and girlfriends.
There are some very deep themes of abuse, racism, and spiritual matters addressed. I wish the author actually had gone a little more in depth with how Cordelia changes, but overall, this was a good read. It resonated with me and I feel it falls into a category that isn't much written about in fiction.
***
If you would like to read the first chapter of
Pieces of the Heart, go
HERE.
Bonnie S. Calhoun is Owner/Director of Christian Fiction Blog Alliance, owner/publisher of Christian Fiction Online Magazine, Northeast Zone Director for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), the ACFW ‘2011 Mentor of the Year,” President of (CAN) Christian Authors Network, and Appointment Coordinator for both the Colorado Christian Writers Conference (CCWC) and the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference(GPCWC).
For the last six years she has taught workshops in Facebook, Twitter, Blogging, and creating Social Media promotions at both CCWC, and GPCWC, and in 2011 at the Montrose, Pa Christian Writers Conference. She also taught a Facebook workshop at the 2012 ACFW conference.
Bonnie and her husband live in a log cabin in upstate area of New York with a dog and cat who think she’s wait-staff.
Her sites are:
https://www.facebook.com/bonniescalhounsnarkandsuspense
https://www.facebook.com/bscalhoun
I received this book from CFBA in exchange for my fair and honest review.
